Truck-frame for railway-cars.



Nc. '15s-,229. PATENTED APR.26,1904.

G. T. WESTLAKB.

wTRUCK FRAME POR RAILWAY GARS.

APPLIoA'noN FILED JULY 3, 1900.

N MODEL.

7 UNITED STATES Patented April 26, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES T. WVESTLAKE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI` ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE, ASSIGNMENTS, TO AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TRUCK-FRAME FOR RAILWAY-CARS- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 510-758,22), dated April 26, 1904.

Application led July 3, 1900.

T0 @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES T. VVnsTLAnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Truck- Frames for Railway-Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to' the truck-frames`of\V railway-cars, and has for its particular object to improve the means and manner of supporting the hangers for the brake-beams. It is necessary to the proper Working of the brakerigging that the beam-hangers should be suspended from a part of the frame Which is rigid and immovable with respect to the wheel and axle. Heretofore these hangers have usually been supported by and from separate plates secured to different parts ofthe truckframes by means of bolts and nuts or rivets. My invention obviates the difficulties inherent in this arrangement and dispenses with all separate plates or devices for supporting the hangers and contemplates making the hangersupports rigid with or integral parts of the spring-seat casting, as Will now be more particularly described.

The improvement is illustrated` in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in whichi Figure l is a side view of a fragment of a truck-frame with the improvement applied. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the spring-seat casting, and Fig; 3 is a top plan view of the same casting.

Referring to the views, 1 denotes one of the car-wheels; 2, the top bar of the side frame of the truck; 3, the bottom bar of the truckframe, and 4 the diagonal strut extending, as usual, from the top of the axle-box o downwardly to seats s s on the bottom bar of the frame and passing upwardly again diagonally to the top of the axle-box at the opposite end ofthe frame.

The spring-seat isV denoted by 5 in the drawseriai No. 22,435. (No man.)

ings and consists of the'body portion having the platform 5b, which constitutes the seat proper for the springs, vertical pillars 5a 5i at opposite ends, the pedestals cc, which restupon the bottom bar 3 of the truck-frame, and the arched flange supporting th'e platform 5b and extending beyond the latter, Where said flange is divided or bifurcated to form the lower portions of said pillars 5EL 5a. The usual pillar-boltsare employed to bind the top and bottom bars of the truck-frame together. These bolts pass through perforations 7 7 in the pillars 5*L 5, thereby securing the spring-seat casting in place in the usual manner.

Projecting from opposite ends of the casting, near the upper ends of the pillars 5 5, I provide brackets 6 6, formed integrally with or bolted to the pillars. These brackets project inwardly and horizontally from the pillars, so that those on the casting of the two truck-frames face toward each other. The brackets on each casting are practically parallel, so as lto form suitable supports for the beam-hangers of the brakes of each pair of Wheels.

At their outer ends thebrackets 6 6 are provided with ears or lugs 8 8, perforated, as

indicated at 9, for the reception of the pintlesl or bolts by means of which the beam-hangers are pivotally suspended. No particular novelty is claimed lfor the construction or arrangement of these hangers. They carry the brake beams and shoes at their lower ends and are supported from the pintles at their upper ends in the usual way. A

The construction of p my improved beamhanger support being as thus described, it Will be noted that the point of suspension of the brake beams and shoes is rigid and immovable With respect to the wheels; also, that no separate fastenings or additional supports are required, but that the hangers are rigid with the spring seat casting and are secured in place by the means which secures the casting to the side frames, thus greatly simplifying and strengthening the construction of the frame.

vided with perforated ears for supporting the IO brake-beam hangers. r

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES T. WESTLAKE.

Witnesses:

EDWARD F. GALTRA, J. A. GoLDsBoRoUGH. 

